


slow creeks of rusty swings

by Menatiera



Series: Bingo Fills [25]
Category: Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Dares and Bets, Gen, Marvel Spookytober 2019, Modern AU, No power AU, Teenage Bucky Barnes, Teenage Steve Rogers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-01
Updated: 2019-10-01
Packaged: 2020-11-09 07:43:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20849933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Menatiera/pseuds/Menatiera
Summary: BBB Discord prompt: “I don’t think we should go in there.”Spookytober prompt: Ghosts / “I’m not scared”*Little snippet: Brock dared Steve to go to the abandoned amusement park that he thinks is haunted, and Bucky of course follows Steve.





	slow creeks of rusty swings

**Author's Note:**

> Betaed by the lovely [Adrasteia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AdrasteiaW), thank you for your patience and thoroughness, darling!

The abandoned amusement park was almost a mile away from the current edge of the town - once upon a time the city was bigger, but times changed and parts of it became left behind, until even the adults caught up and redrew the borders.

Bucky balanced himself carefully on a rail that probably hadn't seen a train in decades, arms outstretched. Focusing on not stepping down from the narrow line helped to ease his nerves. "I don't think we should go in there," he said, not for the first time, but was met with a dismissive hand wave again from Steve.

Which didn't surprise Bucky. 

After all, it was a bet, and Steve's stung pride wouldn't let him back away from it, no matter that their parents warned them about playing out here. Not because the amusement park was haunted, of course. That was just Brock's stupidity. But there were more real dangers - leftover electricity coursing in exposed wires, plants making seemingly solid structures unstable with roots underneath, old wood giving out under them if they climbed on it. Bucky knew that one from experience, because he had broken his ankle once when he was playing here unsupervised at age six. That was in his pre-Steve times, when he had sought out adventure on his own.

Since Steve, he didn't need to seek anymore, adventure either found them, or Steve made sure to get them both into trouble. Bucky loved him for it.

"We're almost there," Steve said, voice nasal because of course he was sick on top of everything (but when was Steve not sick, after all), and sniffed for good measure.

"What will ya do if we find the ghost?" Bucky asked, just out of curiosity for the answer. Ghosts didn't exist, he knew this at fourteen. They were fun to scare his little sisters with sometimes, coming up with stories about them, especially around Halloween, but that was all they were: a product of an overworking imagination. Or, in Brock's case, of stupidity, because he believed what his Uncle Alexander said to him like it was the absolute truth, so if his Uncle said that he had met the ghost here, then it was unquestionable. And when Steve called him out on it, Brock dared Steve to come here, and Bucky of course tagged along, and here they were.

"There is no such thing as a ghost," Steve said, definite, then shrugged, "and if there is, I'll punch it in the face."

Bucky snorted.

They reached the once-was-a-gate entrance of the amusement park, the cast iron structure towering over them menacingly. Bucky reached out and scraped his nail over one of the bars, and rust ran off under his touch. Steve looked up at the top of the bars, eyeing the spikes there.

It was easier to believe in ghosts, out here, when the only sound was the whistling of the wind, the low-level humming of a machine somewhere that miraculously still ran, and a few birds chirping here and there. It was easier to believe in ghosts, when the sun was setting, making the shadows longer, and the whole world a little bit gray and blurred at the edges. It was easier to believe in ghosts seeing the bent structures of abandoned games inside, and the green plants crawling over them. It was easier to believe in ghosts facing a laughing face in the middle of a huge reflective red star, almost straight across them in the distance.

Then, of course, Steve straightened his spine (as much as he was able, at least), pulled his shoulders back and took a deep breath. "I'm not scared," he announced, as if pretending would make it true, and marched inside.

Bucky chuckled, and followed him. He wouldn't break his ankle this time, after all, and even if he did, Steve was at least here to fetch some help. And until then: they could have some fun exploring this place.


End file.
